Jersey City woman celebrates 100th birthday with 4 generations of family

"Because she has survived as long as she has survived, she's kept what would be considered distant relatives together."

Jersey City has changed tremendously
during the past 100 years and city native Anne Sinnott has been there to see it all.

Sinnott, who turned 100 years old Monday, rang in the momentous birthday over the weekend with a bash at the
Brass Rail in Hoboken, surrounded by nearly 30 members of her family.

Reaching the age of 100 is "something
that is puzzling to me," said Sinnott. But she gives credit to her longevity
to rarely drinking alcohol and abstaining from too much late-night revelry
during her younger years –- although she added she wasn't a homebody.

The centenarian spent her childhood
living on Tuers Avenue, a typical Jersey City street behind St. Aedan's Church, and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1935.

Sinnott said she's proud to have
spent the majority of her long life in Jersey City, with the exception of a
stint in Philadelphia, Pa. She now lives in the St. John's Apartments in the Journal Square neighborhood.

Sinnott is the second oldest child
of four and outlived her three brothers. She also remained unmarried throughout her life.

Her family has a long history of working in Jersey City: her father and one brother were longtime Jersey City police officers.

After working for the federal government for about four decades, Sinnott said she worked in the Hudson County Welfare Office in Jersey City for about 12 years.

The party on Sunday brought together
at least four generations of the family, who traveled from as far away as Nevada
and Florida.

Tim Schaffer, who married into the
family and lives in Jersey City, said celebrating Sinnott's birthdays has
become an annual ritual for the family and has kept them close.

"Because she has survived as long as
she has survived, she's kept what would be considered distant relatives
together, and I think that's a pretty cool thing," said Schaffer.

"She's been
the central figure and she's been the reason we've all stayed in touch."

Schaffer said he and his wife
Jacqueline also kept the Sinnott namesake alive by using it for the middle names
of their two children.

"My children appreciate her," said Schaffer.
"They've spent time with her and talked to her about the way things were and
how she grew up. She's seen a lot of things."